Starting device for explosive-engines



PATENTED FEB. 16, 1 904.

a. J. PELSTNING] I STARTING DEVICE, FOR E'XPLOSIVE ENGINES.

APPfiIGATION FILED J UNE 18, 1903.

N0 MODEL.

versus co Pam" UNITED A STATES GEORGE J. PEL-sTRINe,

Patented February 16, 1 904.

PAT NT O FFICE.

or CINCINNATI, os o.

STARTING DEVICE FOR EVXIPLOSIVE-ENGINES.

SZEECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 752,412, dated February 16, 1904. Application filed June 18, 1903. SerialNo.161,981. (No model.)

To all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE J. PELSTRING, acitizen of the United States, residing in the city of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented acertain new j and Improved Starting Device for Explosive: Engines; and I do declare the following to be.

a clear, full, and exact description thereof, at-

tention being called to the accompanying drawings, with the reference charactersmarked thereon. which form also a part of this speci fication.

This invention relates to certain means for starting by hand the operation of a small dynamo where the same serves to generate a current necessary to furnish the electrical spark for igniting in explosive-engines the gas or vapor used to drive such engines and when the normal operation of these dynamos is dependent on and derived from the operation of this same engine. Such small generat0rs,also called sparkers, are usually driven from the engines, for which they furnish the igniting medium by various contrivances, generally depending on frictional contact. A dynamo of this kind anda method of driving it 1 are shown in Patent No. 719,037. and'inpending application, of which I am interested and to which type of sparker and method of driving it this present. invention is applied. This method of driving Serial No.156,527,1in both is by frictional contact had with one of the i moving parts of the engine, usually the flywheel, and a speed-regulator is interposed to control the speed of the sparker.

In the following specification, and particularly pointed out in the claim following, is found a full description of the invention, together with its operation, parts, and construction, which latter is also illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 shows my invention applied to such a dynamo or sparker, the same being shown in top View and operated by frictional contact with the fiy-wheel of an explosive-engine for which it furnishes the igniting medium. Fig. 2 is an end view of the preceding figure. Fig.

3 is a vertical section of it on line 3 3 of Fig.

1. Fig. 1 is part of a side View of Fig. 1 and shows a modification of my invention. Fig.

5 in a view similar to Fig. 3 shows still another modification.

In the drawings, 11 shows the armature and also driving-shaft of the dynamo, which latter is inclosed in a housing, of which 12 is the side and 13 and 1 1 are'the heads. This shaft is driven from a moving member of the engineas, for instance, the flywheel15and is most generally accomplished by frictional contact, for which purpose a friction'pulley or disk is mounted on one of the ends of shaft 11 and connected thereto in a manner to cause the actuation received from fly-wheel 15 'to be transmitted to said shaft. This connection,

wherea speed-regulator is interposed, is by means of this regulator mechanism, the object being to control the speed as derived from the fly-wheel, so as to have it uniform. The presence of such a regulator or governor is, however, not absolutely necessary to .carry out my invention. When it is used, the frictionpulley or disk 16 is loosely mounted on shaft 11 and yieldingly held in contact with the flywheel by means of a. spring17.

The contact is controlled by governor-balls 18, which under increased centrifugal action diminish or break contact entirely,and thereby control the speed of the dynamo and main- .tain it at a uniform ratio.

If such an engine is to be started, it is necessary to rotate first the fiy-wheel sufliciently long until the dynamo has attained the requisite speed to furnish suflicient current to produce and obtain the first ignition with consequent explosion, after which both dynamo and engine will take care of themselves, the dynamo furnishing the necessary currentand the engine driving the dynamo. This initial unaided rotation of the fly-wheel, depending entirely on manual exertion, is diflicult and inconvenient, since all connected parts of the engine have to be necessarily moved with it. To overcome this difiiculty, I provide the means as shown and hereinafter described and whereby 'the dynamo may be rotated independent of the engine, and which means, although manually operated, permit such to be done conveniently and without difiiculty, since the mechanism involving the dynamo is only of limited size and presents little resistance to idly mounted on shaft 11.

its operation. These means consist of a crankhandle 19, either directly applied to the dynamo-shaft or, in order to obtain higher speed, applied through the medium of a gear-train, which may comprise a larger gear-Wheel 21, meshing into a pinion 22, mounted at one end of shaft 11 and rigidly connected thereto. Wheel 21 is supported in a suitable bearing 23, attached to the dynamo housing. The friction-disk, as before stated, being loosely mounted on shaft 11, no resistance from the engine is encountered, since none of its parts are involved in this independent manual operation of the dynamo, and sufficient speed to generate the requisite current is readily and easily attain ed and conveyed, by means of customary wires, to the igniting apparatus of the engine, so that this latter as soon as subjected to the impulse of the first explosion starts immediately to operate. Hub 24 of the governor mechanism is also loosely mounted, said mechanism being, however, operatively connected with friction-disk 16 in the usual manner customary in governors, so that the two rotate together. nection by means of frictional contact between its fly-wheel and the friction-disk will immediately rotate this latter, and thiSrotation as soon as it has acquired suflicient speed will presently be sufficient to impart the necessary speed to the dynamo-shaft, so that it only remains necessary to transfer at this juncture the rotation as received from the flywheel and disk 16 onto shaft 11, after which the manual rotation of this latter by crank-handle 19 may be terminated. The mechanical means for eflecting this transfer consist of two complementary parts adapted to enter into operative connection as soon as the speed of disk 16, derived from flywheel 15, equals the speed of the shaft 1 1, as derived from manual operation. These means, as to the one part, consist of pawls 25, pivotally carried at the side of the loosely-mounted hub 2 1 of the governor mechanism and by means of springs 26 are held in engaging contact with a ratchet-wheel 27, rig- It will now be seen that by means of this arrangement the dynamo may be readily operated independent of disk 16 and of the engine. Veither does this operation conflict with the presently slowly beginning rotation of the engine and disk 16, since the rotation of ratchet-wheel 27 and the motion of pawls 25 as they are carried around shaft 11 are both in the same direction. As

the speed of pulley 16, driven by the engine, and of the interposed governor mechanism rises the pawls 25, connected to this latter,

The engine through operative conbehind them, as shown.

simply overtake the hand driven ratchet wheel and take upon themselves the further work of rotating the same. This fact the operator at the crank-handle readily perceivesand he simply lets go of this latter.

Gear-wheel 21 may be loosely mounted, so

that at the same time it may be entirely disconnected, the operator simply'slipping it oif its bearing, thus avoiding the wear and resistance caused by the further rotation of the gear-train, which latter is now useless, since after thatthat is, after the engine is started and operates the dynamothe presence of this gear-train is of no significance and its service is not required until the engine is to be started 'pawls 29, which engage notches 31 in shaft 11, being the equivalent to ratchet-wheel 27, and in which position they are held by springs In this case hub 24 is held against lateral movement by a collar taking the place of the ratchet-wheel now shown.

Having described my invention, I claim as new In means for starting explosive-engines having electrically-operated igniting devices, the current for which is furnished by a dynamo, a friction-pulley mounted for rotation on the dynamo-shaft but freely movable longitudinally thereon, a governor mechanism also mounted on the dynamo-shaft and controlling automatically the contact of the friction-pulley with an engine-driven member, pawls carried by this governor mechanism, a member having complementary ratchet-teeth fixedly mounted on this dynamo-shaft and means for rotating this latter manually and independent of the other parts transmitting rotation thereto.

In testimony whereof I hereunto set my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE J. PELSTRING. 

